Four women allege harassment, assault by disgraced sheriff's deputy, leading to new charges

A Kern County Sheriff’s deputy who was arrested last year after an allegation emerged he sexually assaulted a woman while on duty is facing eight additional criminal charges after more purported victims have come forward.

Four women have told the Kern County Sheriff’s Office that Michael Everett Clark, 31, acted inappropriately toward them while in uniform, according to documents prepared by investigators. The new charges against Clark range from stalking to sexual battery.

The Kern County District Attorney’s Office says all of the newly-surfaced alleged incidents occurred over a period of months in 2019.

One of the women appears to have filed a claim against Kern County relating to her alleged assault.

Although the Kern County District Attorney’s Office would not comment on the claim, the date and description of events match information in a claim filed on Feb. 13 of this year.

In a sworn statement included in the claim, the woman says Clark and two other deputies arrived at her home, shouting “probation sweep!” on Feb. 14, 2019. She said the deputies told her she was under arrest and placed her in handcuffs.

The sweep occurred after the woman’s boyfriend had filed a claim against several sheriff’s deputies alleging harassment, and the woman said she believed the deputies hoped to intimidate her from testifying on behalf of her boyfriend.

The woman said Clark took her to his patrol car by himself for another search. During the search, the claim says the woman was “touched, rubbed, stroked, grabbed, groped, fondled, and/or molested” in her private areas.

Later, the woman said she was driven to the sheriff’s downtown receiving facility and left inside the patrol car for 20 minutes with the windows up and the heater set at the maximum level.

When the woman requested the “uncomfortable situation” be fixed, she says a deputy swore at her and laughed. She claims she was held for around 38 hours at the central receiving facility without food or water even though she informed officials she had hypoglycemia, a condition caused by low blood sugar.

She said she believes her treatment was intended to intimidate her, and that if she spoke out she would be subjected to intensified harassment.

“We are alleging that there was a complete abuse of power by Deputy Michael Clark,” Danay Gonzalez, an attorney representing the claimant, wrote in an email to The Californian. “It is our information that he sexually assaulted, harassed, and intimated our client while he was in uniform, on the clock, and on the taxpayer’s dime. There is plenty of evidence to support this.”

In separate accounts described by the Sheriff’s Office in probable cause documents, three other women describe alleged inappropriate behavior by Clark.

In one instance, a woman says that after meeting Clark on a call for service at her residence, he called and texted her in an attempt to start a sexual relationship. The documents do not list a date, but say Clark was operating out of the Rosamond substation.

The woman says even though she told him she was not interested, Clark sent her obscene texts and parked his patrol car across from her home on several occasions for no apparent reason, according to sheriff’s documents.

The Sheriff’s Office said in the documents GPS data confirmed the woman’s account about Clark’s patrol vehicle.

The documents say the woman has since moved out of Kern County.

In another incident, a woman claims Clark touched her rear end without permission while in uniform, according to a probable cause declaration.

In a fourth account, a woman says Clark harassed her while she was at work, according to a probable cause declaration. The woman says in the documents she was lying down behind a register for a nap during her 30-minute lunch break when Clark laid down next to her attempting to “cuddle.”

Other employees witnessed the incident, the declaration says, and the physical contact was not wanted.

Previously, Clark was arrested in October of last year after a 21-year-old woman told the Sheriff’s Office Clark offered her a ride home from work in Rosamond before forcing himself on her in his patrol car. The Sheriff’s Office said at the time Clark was accused of kissing and fondling the woman, along with exposing himself.

The alleged incident occurred in August. Clark later admitted to the woman he “violated” her consent during a phone call that was part of a follow-up investigation, according to a probable cause declaration.

Clark has pleaded not guilty to three felony charges related to the previously-reported incident.

He faces two additional charges of felony stalking, two counts of felony sexual battery, two counts of felony assault by a public officer and a misdemeanor charge for touching a person intimately against their will for arousal, along with another misdemeanor for obscene or threatening telephone calls.

While KBAK 29 reported in December that Clark was no longer working for the Sheriff’s Office, the department could not confirm Clark’s employment status to The Californian on Friday.

While not in custody at the moment, he is due in court Monday.

You can reach Sam Morgen at 661-395-7415. You may also follow him on Twitter @smorgenTBC.

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